Corporate principles and corporate behaviour
Corporate principles are a guiding light for employees and customers alike. The concept inevitably embraces the furtherance and support of existing agreements. Pledges made in corporate principles have to be kept in temporary exhibition architecture, too.
Reputation is always also a question of appearance - or in the words of Otl Aicher: "You are how you appear, and how you appear is what you are." The identity and typical values of a company and its brands are primarily communicated by the way the company behaves and presents itself. Thomas Peters and Robert Watermann, authors of the book "In Search of Excellence", define the value system by which a company ostensively lives as a decisive characteristic of leading corporations. The concept of corporate behaviour embraces all practices of a company and how they are perceived inside and outside the organisation. Temporary fair and exhibition architecture business is all about translating the corporate principles and brand statements of a company into three dimensions and acting them out in direct contact with the customer.
Corporate principles articulate general concerns which, although visionary in character, define day-to-day relations with customers and employees. Before central ideas and future objectives can be communicated, they must be worded in a succinct way.
The result is not only a strategic planning instrument for the company to use for its own development but also basic information for those whose job it is to present the company in three dimensions. This involves making brand statements that assert values connected in some way with the product which are, by extension, associated with companies and brands. Depending on the target group, such statements might be taken from the world of sports: "authentic, passionate, committed" or the business world, where such terms as "excellence, efficiency, sustainability" suggest competence as a principle of behaviour towards customers.
Aspects of positive corporate behaviour include excellent working conditions for employees, which can pay back in motivation and lower sickness figures. The wellbeing of the personnel a company sends to a trade fair often has low priority. For example, few opportunities are offered for retiring from the intensive bustle of trade fair business. Another possibility is to express global responsibility by using environmentally friendly materials. Ideally, this should apply equally to products, production methods and factories. Corporate behaviour becomes credible when the corporate principles, content and outward appearance are harmonised.
The homogeneous presentation of ERCO is remembered around the world for its short and snappy corporate principle "Light not luminaires", which ushered in the transition from pure production to competence in planning. Klaus J. Maack who phrased this principle back in 1968 points out that architecture at ERCO is always understood as an optimised overall concept involving the employees. For example, at the company's headquarters in Lüdenscheid communication between employees and visitors over lunch is a central element of corporate behaviour.
Both in the company's building in Lüdenscheid and at temporary presentations at fairs, light is experienced as the fourth dimension of architecture. The P3 Automated Warehouse can be described as a dynamic light sculpture that perfectly conveys the corporate principle. The stand at Light + Building in Frankfurt plays on the theme of design using scenographic lighting. Here again, a long bar placed in front of the product presentation backdrop provides an open area for communication between employees and customers. Jons Messedat
m+a report Nr.2 / 2006 vom 24.03.2006
m+a report vom 24. März 2006